“Come, Have Breakfast.”

The invitation almost seems comical in light of what has happened: Jesus, the Messiah, Only-Begotten Son of God, is crucified, dies, is buried and raised from the dead so our sins can be forgiven and we would have life everlasting.   Seven of the Apostles, who fished all night and caught nothing, are invited to eat with the Risen Christ on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee.  A lost night becomes a new day!

Three years before this, most of the Apostles were fisherman from this area who earned their living and made a life as best they could under Roman domination.  Since then, they said “yes” to an itinerant preacher named Jesus to follow Him, learn from His teaching, listen to His preaching, witness His numerous miracles and come to believe He is the Son of God.  After He dies, even though they have seen Him, they feel deserted and are in denial so they return to the only other life they know: Fishing.

Grief due to the loss of someone you love is one of the most tragic changes one can suffer in life.  There is no time limit on how long it will last or how one will cope as everyone deals with grief differently.  And yet, even with the deepest pain, there is hope, if you try to understand your emotions, take care of yourself and seek support.     

For the Apostles, they lived with Jesus in the flesh for three years.  He always led the way with a great love of faith based on His relationship with God, His Father.  How do you match that?  And, yet, that is what the invitation is about: Continuing in Jesus’ footsteps by trusting in His plan based on His love for all who believe.  We also are invited because our faith is based not on being with Him in the flesh, but on believing even though we do not see. 

St. John’s Gospel provides us with a deep insight of Jesus’ love for us when He asks Peter three times if he loves Him as a refutation to his denial.  By addressing him as Simon, son of John, whom he did at the beginning of his discipleship at the river Jordan, he indicates His love has not dissipated.  Each “yes” response by Peter strengthens the promise of Jesus to him that he would be the foundation, the source and strength of unity in the new Christian community.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we understand again why St. Peter was selected by Jesus as the “Rock” on which Christ built His Church.  In his response to the ‘Sanhedrin he indicates the truth about Jesus while He lived on earth and that they pushed for His death out of fear and false righteousness.  “The Apostles for their part left the Sanhedrin full of joy that they had been judged worthy of ill treatment for the sake of Jesus.” (Acts 5:41)

St. Peter struggled within his own humanity in an effort to understand how he could be the disciple Jesus called him to be.  We read that throughout the New Testament.  Yet, we also learn that he worked just as hard at trying to be faithful in his love of God based on his relationship with Jesus.

God works with us also by guiding us to do things that have greater outcomes in our faith journey.  But for that to be successful, we need to be courageous like St. Peter so there is no mistake about who Jesus is, what He did and what He has planned for all of us.  By taking this path, we can avoid the discouragement of what the world offers and in our own sinfulness.  And like St. Peter, despite our limitations, we can feed the Lord’s sheep.

Reading 1: Acts 5: 27-32, 40b-41
Reading 2: Revelation 5: 11-14
Gospel: John 21: 1-19